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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Best laid plans...ho ho sniffle ho...

I had visions of my sweet sister-in-law, McKenzie, as a house guest for three weeks - tons of time out with the girlfriends, manicures, read a few books, and that doesn't even include the loads of fun the kids will enjoy like crafts, cookies, and the likes. Dun dun dun. Not! There was gift shopping, birthday party preparing and recovering, cold rain, and being sick practically the whole month. Don't get me wrong, I'm getting a taste of the "nanny" good life, having someone here so I can run a quick errand and to read to the kids while I prepare dinner. But, it's not exactly what I envisioned. Life is busy and chaotic in December!

I also know it could be much much worse. My friend has her mother-in-law staying with her and she's literally nuts, following her into the bathroom incessantly talking, being mean and critical, and suffering from what we think is dementia although she thinks she's totally fine (even though she forgets to shower or wash her clothes). Yes, could be worse.

But, it's hard when your expectations fall short, way short. Perhaps plans to visit all of our favorite spots that we greatly miss now that the kids are in school can be scaled back to include one of them instead? And that's okay, I guess. Maybe I was simply being unrealistic. But, it's still hard to ignore the Super Mom guilt - must provide a constant rich and diverse childhood and having the kids watch tv all day is not what I consider worthy of the super cape.

I think it would be a good idea to change my thinking to save my sanity. Instead of regretting all the fabulous things that we are not doing, it would be better served being happy with what we are doing. The kids are getting in some much needed creative imagination time (it's limited with school and all), spending down time with the very cuddly Auntie McKenzie, watching for the first time some classic stop-motion (slightly weird) holiday movies from my childhood, and having an impromptu "snow" party indoors. In fact, I'm not hearing any complaints, except for the conflicts in my head. Or is that the 100.0 fever?

Hopefully next week we will hit the town with all of our pent up energy ready to have some fun. Can you say two little volcanoes ready to explode? Maybe everyone will be done with being sick and the warm sun will shine brightly to melt away our December blahs. Hey, I feel a little less snuffly and a bit warmer just thinking about that.

1 comment:

can one have supermom guilt without kids? if not, then i am the exception. i've tried to give up expectations like one would give up, say, chocolate. it's hard to do, but the rewards of enjoying what you do get in the longrun without the mind script are worth it. i still haven't found the benefits of giving up chocolate though.